Have you ever worked on a larger project and at some point wished that instead of a giant box of notes you had some shorter, more accessible overview of the entire thing? The run-down of a lecture series, the step-by-step process of realizing a website overhaul, the hierarchical overview of customer requests?

Whatever challenge you face, an outline can save the day. It allows you to quickly see a structure or find a detail which can get lost in regular notes. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at five outliner apps for Mac and their respective benefits and shortcomings. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but I’m sure it will get you started.